Bad Medicine
by Grettigirl123
Summary: AU Sam & Dean aren't related, Sam's not a hunter. See inside for details. Sam&Dean share a hospital room. Sam thinks roommate is delirious when he says a monster is out to get him, but Dean knows what he's talking about. fevered Dean,limp Sam
1. Chapter 1

_**This is another attempt at an AU of Sam and Dean that I started a few stories ago. In this, Sam is played as out of character. His name is Sam Campbell. He is not a hunter and is no relation to Dean. He goes to Stanford and is still with Jess. Dean is in character, and he and Bobby are hunters. In each of the stories, the boys meet in different situations, and my stories explore their reactions to each other during those meetings. You don't have to have read the others to understand this one. The stories don't follow any order. I hope you enjoy it.**_

_**This story has Dean becoming ill while fighting a monster. He and Sam end up sharing a room in a hospital. As you will see, Dean is a bit out of it, so he may seem a little out of character as well, but it's just the fever talking. **_

_**I usually have these AU's as one shots, but this one will be a two shot. **_

_**As always, I make no profit, nor do I own any characters.**_

Bad Medicine

Sam awoke in his hospital bed to Jess stroking her fingers through his hair. He gave her a quick groggy smile as everything started to come back into focus. The anesthesia was still making him a bit light headed, but otherwise he felt okay. He looked down at his foot, all wrapped up in a thick white cast.

"Did everything go okay?" He asked Jess, his girlfriend of three years.

She gave him a bright encouraging smile as she reassured him that the surgery had gone perfectly. His ankle would be good as new in six weeks. "Until then," she warned, "You need to stay off that foot and get some rest."

Sam smiled. "What I really need is to find a safer pastime than skiing. It seems like every time we plan a ski trip, something horrible happens." He winced as he looked at his toes poking out of the end of the cast. "I never saw the turn in the trail until it was too late." Sam then took Jess' hand in his. "I'm so sorry I ruined our weekend getaway."

Jess shook her head and sighed at Sam. "You didn't ruin anything, Sam. I'm just glad that you're okay." Honestly, sometimes that boy said the craziest things. "There will always be other weekends."

Just then Sam's doctor entered the room. "Well, well," He proclaimed as he approached the bed. "Look who decided to wake up and join us. How are you feeling, Mr. Campbell?"

"Fine, I guess. I can't feel anything from my knee down on that leg yet. Is that normal?"

The doctor nodded. "Yes, that's normal. It'll start to wake up in about an hour or so. Everything went very well, as I'm sure your lovely lady has told you already. We were able to remove the bone fragments from the break and repair the tibia. All in all it was an easy procedure. You'll be back on the slopes again in no time. Just….be more careful next time."

Sam smiled and nodded back. He then gave a questioning look at the I.V in his arm.

"What's this?" He asked, poking where the needle entered his arm.

"That's a low dose of Morphine, and it's to help with the discomfort you will most likely feel when your foot does wake up. It'll also help you to get a good night's sleep." He smiled at both Sam and Jess. "There shouldn't be any reason why you can't go home tomorrow morning. I'll be back then to give your foot another check and go over your discharge instructions. In the meantime, Sam, if there is any noticeable swelling or discoloration of your foot or toes, or if you begin to feel nauseous or have shortness of breath, let your nurse know right away."

"I will. Thank you."

The doctor exited the room just as a middle aged nurse was entering. The name 'Charlotte' was in bold black letters on her name tag. She was followed by two orderlies pushing a gurney with a semi-conscious young man on it. They transferred the man to his bed on the other side of Sam's room. He was a handsome man who appeared to be in his late twenties, had short dark hair and a medium build. His eyes were closed, but he was moaning something incoherently and turning his head from side to side.

Jess raised her eyebrows at Sam. "Looks like you've got a roommate." She said.

The nurse went right to work preparing an I.V for the man and talking soothingly to him as he struggled to regain full consciousness. As soon as the needle was inserted and some medication began to flow from the bag to his bloodstream, she turned her attention to his vitals, taking his blood pressure, his pulse and temperature. Within a few minutes, he began to calm down just a bit, most likely due to some sedation, and finally focused on the nurse's face. He stared at her in confusion.

"Where am I?" He demanded to know.

"You're at Mercy General Hospital." Charlotte answered, "And you're going to be just fine. Can you tell me your name? You didn't have any identification on you when the medics brought you in."

His eyes darted back and forth for a moment, and then he slowly answered. "Dean. Name's Dean."

Charlotte nodded at him and smiled. "That's good, Dean. Thank you." She reached behind his head and fluffed his pillows. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Dean's eyes suddenly grew huge as he remembered the events that had taken place. "I never saw him coming towards me. He was a sneaky son of a bitch." Dean rambled. He then paused to explain himself to the nurse. "You see, I'm usually a really great hunter. I can spot those monsters a mile away. I just have this natural sense about them, you know?"

She smiled compassionately at him as she wiped the sweat from his brow. "Yes, I can see that about you." She indulged him as he continued his story.

"Yeah, so…..but this guy…he came out of nowhere. With talons and fangs, before I knew what was happening he had his hooks in me. I started feeling all wheezy and knew it wouldn't be long before I passed out." He looked around the room. "The next thing I knew I was here."

"Did you see what color it was?" Charlotte asked. "Was it brown or black?"

Dean stared at her blankly as he caught his breath. "Um, no. It was actually kinda pale. But big!" He declared as if he were remembering something of vital importance, pointing his finger at Charlotte. "He was a big bastard."

She patted Dean's hand reassuringly. "Okay, thank you. Now listen, Dean. You need to try to get some rest. You're having a bad reaction to the bite and you're running a really high fever as well. It's normal for you to feel groggy and a little confused right now, so don't worry if things are fuzzy. You're also on some medication for the fever and pain, and we've added a sedative to help you get some sleep."

Dean shook his head frantically. "NO! I can't sleep. Not with that thing still out there! I've gotta get out of here! It's got my scent, it'll hunt me down! I've got to get back there and kill that thing before more people get hurt!" Dean tried to sit up and swing his legs over the side of the bed, but the room began to spin for him and he started to lose his balance. Charlotte had no trouble pushing him back down on the bed.

"Not in this shape, you're not." She countered, "Listen to me. You've got to get better, and to do that you need to let us do our jobs. These meds will help you, and once they've had a chance to work for a bit things will seem a lot clearer to you. In the meantime, you need to rest." She reached into her smock pocket and pulled out a syringe. She inserted the tip of it into Dean's I.V line, pressed the plunger down, and watched as a clear fluid flowed into Dean's arm. As the medication hit Dean's bloodstream, his eyes began to fog over and, although he fought it, within seconds he had lost consciousness.

Charlotte then turned her attention to Sam and Jess, who were both staring at her in disbelief. She smiled as she approached Sam's bed.

"So," She asked, "How are you feeling?"

Sam exhaled as he continued to watch Dean. "I….I guess I'm doing a lot better than he is."

"Don't worry about him. He'll be fine as soon as the medications we gave him start to work their magic."

Jess looked up at the nurse. "What was he saying about monsters?"

Charlotte looked back at Dean and gave him a thin smile. "I'm not sure about monsters, but he does have a nasty bite mark on the side of his neck. I'm assuming it's a spider bite, and a bad one, but we won't know for sure until the toxicology reports come back. Snakes don't generally bite people in the neck, unless they were being handled. No one witnessed a snake, so my instincts tell me that it was a spider."

Sam gave a sympathetic look in Dean's direction. "Poor guy. He seemed pretty out of it."

"He most likely has venom in his bloodstream. That would be more than enough to cause some delusions and possibly some hallucinations."

A look of concern crossed Jess' face. "Could he be dangerous? I mean, under these circumstances anyway? If so, I don't feel right with Sam in the same room with him, especially where he can't walk….."

"Jess, c'mon." Sam argued. "I'm sure he'll be fine. I don't blame him for being a little freaked out. Having some gross, creepy spider crawling up and biting my neck would freak me out too."

Charlotte smiled at Jess. "Don't worry. Sam will be perfectly safe here tonight. As a matter of fact, the sedative I gave Dean will be more than enough to make him sleep soundly through the night. It'll be like Sam has the room to himself."

"See?" Sam said to Jess. "I'll be just fine."

Jess bent down and kissed Sam's forehead. "Okay, I'll stop fussing then. I just worry sometimes."

Sam nodded. "I know you do, and that's one of the things I love about you. But you've been worrying about me since I fell this afternoon, and you can stop any time now."

"I know." Jess defended, "But it was a really nasty fall, enough to warrant an immediate surgery at five o'clock on a Friday evening. I think I had a right to be worried."

Charlotte turned her attention to Sam, checking his vitals quickly and making sure his foot was propped up comfortably on some pillows. "Okay," She added as she headed toward the door. "It's almost eight o'clock now and I'm going to leave you alone and let you get some rest. I'll try not to bother you any more than needed so you can get a good night's sleep. If you need anything at all, just press the buzzer wrapped around the guardrail of your bed and I'll be right in."

"Sounds good." Sam answered her as she left the room.

Sam sighed as his attention returned to Jess. "So, what are you going to do for the rest of the weekend? Are you going back to the slopes with Brady and Steph?"

"No, I'm not." Jess replied. "I noticed a motel a few blocks from here, so I'm going to stay there tonight so I can come back here first thing tomorrow to see you and help get you checked out. I've already called and changed our flight so we can go home tomorrow afternoon. That way you can get some good rest in our own bed."

Sam couldn't help but smile at her. God, he loved this girl so much. "You take such good care of me. What would I do without you?"

"Crash and burn, I'm sure." She retorted, giving him a warm smile. God, she loved this boy so much.

Jess stayed with Sam for another hour, making sure that he had everything he needed and was all tucked in for the night before leaving him to go check in at the hotel. Sam made her promise that she would call him as soon as she was settled there to be sure that she was safe for the night as well. It wasn't until he received that call that he finally allowed himself the luxury of relaxing and concentrating on getting a good night's sleep.

SPN SPN SPN

Even before Sam opened his eyes, he knew something was very wrong. He could sense that something or someone was very close. He could hear breathing and even feel the warm breath against his face. He lay still for a moment and listened as he tried to regain enough of his senses to fully understand what was happening. He cracked his eyes open just a tiny bit and could make out a shadow looming at his bedside, its face just a few inches from his own. As his eyes flew open, he brought his arm up and swung into the dark, hoping it would make contact with whatever was hovering over him. However, Sam was still very groggy, and his movements were slower than he anticipated. The dark figure had no trouble dodging Sam's swing and countered by pinning his arm up over his head against the pillow. Sam then felt a very warm hand clamp down over his mouth.

"Don't move, and don't make a sound. You hear me?" The figure accentuated his question by tightening his grip on Sam's mouth and sharply shoving his head deeper into the pillows.

Sam's heart was in his throat as he vehemently nodded his head, his eyes locked on his aggressor's form as he tried to make out his features in the dark. Sam instinctively struggled slightly against the hands holding him, but it didn't take long for him to realize that he didn't have any leverage to fight back. He focused instead on trying not to panic.

"I ain't kidding. You make one move…..ONE, and I'll break every bone in your body."

_**Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you're enjoying it so far. Please take a moment and let me know what you think. **_


	2. Chapter 2

_**This was supposed to be a two-shot, but instead it will be a three short shot! My house is getting remodeled and I'm going to be very busy with painting and such, so I thought I would at least post what I had so far so it wouldn't be so long in between chapters. I'm hoping to have some time next week to finish this up. I didn't have a lot of time to proof read this time around. Hopefully there aren't any glaring errors.**_

**Bad Medicine, Chapter 2**

A moment later the hand was removed from Sam's face and it reached for the light switch directly above the headboard of Sam's bed. The light shone brightly in his eyes, causing him to squint and turn his head slightly.

"Okay," the attacker continued, keeping his voice barely above a whisper, "Let's find out what you are."

Sam recognized the man the moment his eyes adjusted to the light. He confirmed his answer by looking at the empty bed beside him. His roommate, Dean, was standing over him, still pinning Sam's arm down with one hand as Dean used his other hand to reach down into a duffel bag next to him. Sam watched anxiously to see what Dean would come up with, and was quite surprised to see him pull out a flask. He watched as Dean struggled with the cap of the flask as he worked to open it with one hand, which was soaked with sweat. Dean's breathing was labored, his face was flushed, and beads of sweat also streaked down his forehead and along his hairline.

"Son of a bitch." Dean groaned as his wet fingers slipped along the opening of the container.

Sensing a moment that Dean was preoccupied, Sam took a chance and desperately reached for the buzzer to call for help from the hospital staff. His panic increased when he realized that the buzzer was no longer wrapped around the guardrail.

"Looking for this?" Dean asked, smiling as he held up a cord, now detached from the paging system.

A crushed look swept across Sam's face as his eyes left the cord and met with Dean's. He nodded slightly in defeat. Sam hoped that perhaps he could try to reason with him. "Look, Buddy…." He started.

Sam was abruptly cut off as Dean swung his hand back towards him, this time gripping around his throat.

"I said 'No talking', and that means to keep your cakehole shut! And I ain't your Goddamned Buddy, either."

Seeing how agitated Dean was becoming, coupled with the fevered state he was in, Sam decided it would best for him to go along with what Dean wanted. He kept quiet and watched as Dean finally twisted the cap from the flask. He jumped in surprise as Dean then flicked a clear liquid from it onto Sam's face, neck and down the front of his shirt. Dean watched in anticipation as if he expected something incredible to happen next, and almost seemed disappointed when Sam continued to lay there motionless, staring up at him in astonishment.

Frowning, Dean dropped the flask and again reached inside the duffel. Sam gently shook some of the water from his face, still wondering what the Hell was going on when Dean brought a small bag full of tiny white pellets from the duffel. Dean opened the bag and brought out a handful of the bits and again threw it at Sam's face, covering most of his mouth and chin. Immediately Sam could taste the bitterness of salt, but lay silently on the bed with no real reaction aside from staring up at Dean in disbelief.

Dean almost sneered at Sam as he dropped the bag of salt down to the floor.

"So," he began. "You're not a demon." He then reached back down and pulled from his bag a hunting knife with a thin silver blade. "Let's see if we can narrow it down some more."

Sam's eyes grew wide with horror. He had no idea what this deranged man was talking about. Demon? He quickly decided that being cooperative wasn't getting him anywhere, so he changed his course of action. He forced himself to lift his head off the pillow and raise his hands to a surrendering position.

"Whoa! Wait a minute." Sam began, again trying to calmly reason with him. "Look, I know you're not thinking straight right now with being bitten and all, but you've gotta know that this is wrong."

Sam's words caused a strong reaction from Dean as he then brought the knife to Sam's throat. "I knew it! You're one of them, aren't ya?"

"No!" Sam answered as he pulled his head back deep into his pillow. "I don't even know what you're talking about! One of what?"

"How do you know about the bite?"

Sam desperately tried to answer Dean without causing him to become enraged. "The nurse!" He cried out, "When they brought you in the nurse said you'd been bitten by a spider." He gave Dean a pleading look. "I'm no threat to you. I've done nothing to hurt you. Please put the knife away and let's talk. Okay? You're not well."

Dean eyed him carefully, the distrust very evident on his face. "Fine," he agreed. "You wanna talk, let's talk. But the knife is staying right where it is." Dean leaned over him, getting right up in his face, making Sam squirm a bit. "You start. What are you?"

Wondering what the Hell Dean was talking about, Sam answered the insane question as best he could. "I'm a patient here, just like you. I busted my ankle and needed surgery."

Sam's answer almost made Dean laugh. "A patient here, just like me?" he retorted, "Dude, there's nothing like you that's just like me. I've been following what you and your gang have been doing to people…innocent people, and I'm gonna put an end to you." He removed the knife from Sam's throat and brought it to Sam's bicep and pressed the blade against his skin. "Let's see if you bleed red, just like me."

Dean was just about to draw the blade across Sam's arm when the hospital room door opened. A large, scruffy man with a beard and baseball cap entered, holding another type of bag. He didn't look like any member of the hospital staff, but at this point Sam didn't care.

"Help me, please! This guy's going nuts!" Sam hollered out.

The man stood frozen for a moment, and then gave a dismayed look at Dean.

"What the Hell are ya doin', Dean?" He questioned.

Dean kept the knife held to Sam as he answered. "I'm finding out what this thing is, Bobby. I'm pretty sure he's in on the disappearances. He could be a ghoul or shapeshifter."

Sam adamantly shook his head and gave a pleading look toward Bobby. "Do you hear what he's saying?" he pleaded. "He's talking crazy, like I'm a monster or something. If you're friends with him please call him off before he does something stupid and ends up stabbing me."

Bobby sighed and shook his head as he approached them. Sam noticed that when he reached Dean's side, he casually took the knife from his hands as if he did that regularly. 

"No, Dean. He's not a monster, he's human, and right now the only thing you're accomplishing it scaring the stuffing out of him. We're looking for a staff member here, not another patient." He looked more closely at Dean and frowned in concern. "Are you holding up okay, boy? You look like crap."

Upon hearing Bobby's words, Dean tried to blink the confusion from his brain. He raised his arm up to his head and wiped the sweat from his brow and face. He looked back and forth between Bobby and this guy in the bed that he had just discovered wasn't a monster and attempted to focus.

"So, you're sure it's human?" he asked. Dean had known Bobby his entire life and trusted him and his judgment. He had just been so sure that he'd been right about his supposed roommate.

Bobby cocked his head to the side as he reasoned with Dean. "Ya ever known a monster that's checked himself into the hospital with a broken foot? I mean, look at this." Bobby pointed to Sam's cast. "How's he gonna pounce on someone with this? Damned thing's bulky as all Hell and weighs a ton."

Dean's shoulders slumped in defeat as he realized Bobby was right. He sighed deeply and sat down next to Sam on the bed, resting his head in his hands. "I'm sorry, Bobby. I don't know what I was thinking." He shook his head as his eyes met the senior hunter's. "I was so sure…"

Bobby's eyes softened as he again approached Dean. "No, this wasn't your fault, it was mine." He looked deep into his eyes and placed his hand to Dean's head, frowning at the heat he found there. "It seems to me I injected too much of the flu virus into you. You're burning up with fever and it's obviously clouded your judgment. Plus I'm sure there was some sort of sedative in that I.V that you pulled out of your arm that's still pumping through your veins. I'm surprised you can function as well as you are."

Sam paused a moment as he absorbed what Bobby had said and tried to catch up with the conversation. "Wait a minute." He began. "You injected him with what?"

Dean tried to rub the ache from his temples. "The Flu virus. It was just a small dose, but evidently it was more than I needed." He looked up at Bobby to further explain. "I guess my resistance was already down or something. It hit me a lot harder than I anticipated. My whole body's aching and my head feels like it's gonna explode."

"No, wait." Sam said to Dean. "That doesn't make any sense. You were bitten by a spider. The nurse said you had a bite mark on your neck." He then turned his attention back to Bobby. "And why the Hell would you inject him with the Flu virus? Not to mention how you got access to it in the first place."

Bobby put his hands up in an attempt to calm Sam. "Okay, hold on there, son. Enough with the questions for now. First off, what's your name so I know what to call ya?"

"My name's Sam Campbell, and from what I've heard so far your name's Bobby, and you're Dean?" Sam answered as he addressed both men.

Bobby smiled at Sam. "Well I guess you weren't just born yesterday, were ya boy?" He chuckled a little at his own joke. "Whaddya do to your foot?"

Sam grimaced as he glanced down at the end of his bed. "I broke my ankle skiing and it needed to be surgically repaired." His face wrinkled with pain as he pulled himself into a sitting position. "It's just now starting to wake up and it's throbbing like Hell."

"Well I'm sorry to hear that, Sam, but I'm afraid right now we've got bigger fish to fry." Bobby came closer to Sam as if he were going to tell him a secret. "You see, Dean and I, we're….. detectives working a case in this hospital. So far four patients have disappeared from this very wing in the last six months. In each case, they were admitted with injuries matching those of bites from a spider or snake. Each patient's record shows that they had bite marks, high fevers, and were rambling on about a giant monster-type creature attacking them. In each case, by the next morning they'd disappeared into thin air."

Sam's eyes widened in amazement as he looked at Dean. "So, when you seemed out of it when you were brought in?"

Dean beamed with pride at how clever he had been "Just some incredible acting by yours truly. I also poked myself on the side of my neck with a pen to make it look like a bite. I did actually have a fever, thanks to being injected, but I wasn't really out of it." He then winced as he continued. "At least, I wasn't out of it then, but was evidently out of it when I woke up and came to your bedside." He gave a sheepish grin. "I'm really, really sorry about that, dude. It must've been a combination of the fever and the drugs they gave me when I got here. I'm usually much more professional than that."

Sam gave an uncomfortable look. "Yeah. That was pretty intense. I'm just glad your friend showed up when he did."

"So am I." Dean answered, the same uncomfortable look now showing on his face.

Bobby continued his explanation. "So, in each case, the patient was last seen when checked on by a nurse between the hours of three and four a.m." He checked the clock, which read 2:41. "That's why I'm here now. No one saw me come in here, and I'm gonna hide in the corner over there to be a back-up for Dean. We're hoping that whatever took the other four patients will be here for Dean between those hours. Then all we have to do is stop it."

Sam started to get a sinking feeling in his stomach. "Whatever?" He asked. "Don't you mean 'whoever'?"

Dean stood up from the bed and opened the duffel bag that Bobby had brought in. He was all business as he reached in and took out a couple of syringes, a large drop cloth and two rather large revolvers. "No," He answered as he checked the barrel of one of the pistols and then snapped it closed again. "He means 'whatever'. Something's taking patients from here, we believe whatever is taking them isn't human. We also believe that the creature has an employee here helping it get access to the victims without being seen."

Sam's heart skipped a few beats. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and his face begin to flush. A wave of cold sweat swept over his body.

He wondered if perhaps there had been some type of escape from the mental ward of the hospital.

_**As always thank you for taking the time to read this, I hope you enjoyed it. Please take just a moment and let me know what you think so far.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**What started as a two-shot has now turned into three chapters and still not quite finished. There will be just one more chapter and then I promise it will be complete. It's not that the story is any longer than I anticipated, it's just that I'm having a lot of work done on my house right now and I'm only able to sit and have it quiet so I can concentrate for short periods of time. I'm not used to my writing time being so sporadic, and I'm sorry to keep this dragging on…..**_

_**Either way, here it is, and as always I thank you for taking the time to read it. Please take just a quick moment and let me know what you think. **_

_**Also thank you to the anon reviewer who I'm unable to thank in a personal message. **_

Bad Medicine, Chapter 3

Dean and Bobby wasted no time in preparing for anything that could happen in the hospital room that night. The theory was that the 'creature' causing the disappearances was indeed an arachnid, only this particular one was a mutant hybrid cross of human and spider. The two hunters had come to the conclusion that the hybrid would hunt people for food by first biting them to render them helpless. However, in some circumstances the victims would escape the creature after being bitten. The victim would then naturally go to the hospital for treatment for the wound and would tell the story of being attacked by a huge fanged monster. Not surprisingly, the hospital staff would assume that the victim was delusional due to the venomous bite. However, because every single patient admitted to this hospital with the bite wound had disappeared before the following day, Dean and Bobby assumed that the creature had a staff member assisting it in finding the victim to finish off and also prevent word about the creature's existence from getting out. Conveniently, the hospital security tapes for those dates had disappeared as well.

Sam sat in utter disbelief and awe as he watched both men prepare for this supposed battle. Logically he couldn't believe any of this was real. There were obviously no such things as any mutant spider-human cross breeds, and just the idea that these two grown men bought in to such nonsense was completely insane. He watched as Dean prepared a gun on the bed next to him. He fastened a silencer on the barrel of it and made sure it was fully loaded and ready to go. Sam wanted to believe that perhaps it was a fake. Maybe this was just some really weird prank. He then remembered how real the knife was that Dean had held to his throat earlier and quickly decided that it was safest to assume that all of the weapons were legitimate.

Sam then watched as Bobby carefully filled the two syringes with a brown, syrupy liquid.

"What are those for?" He asked skeptically.

Bobby peered at Sam while he continued working. "I'm filling these with spider venom. As far as I can tell, these are the best bets to dropping our spidey friend."

Sam frowned. "Wouldn't a spider be immune to its own venom?"

Dean decided he would add his own knowledge. "Nope. A spider holds its venom in a gland sack behind its fangs so it never penetrates its blood stream. In the event that a spider, or snake for that matter, is injected with its own venom, it will die when the venom circulates through its body."

Sam raised his eyebrows and nodded his head in understanding. He then pinched the bridge of his nose to fight off the headache that was fast approaching him and laid his head back on his pillow. "Learn something new every day." He sighed. "I'm not even gonna ask where you got the venom."

Bobby smiled as he glanced at the clock. "It's probably better if you don't." He agreed, then, to Dean, "We'd better get this show on the road. It's almost three a.m."

Dean handed Bobby one of the guns and took one of the syringes from him. "Okay," he grinned, "If you need me, I'll be tucked in my bed…with a pistol and poison under my pillow, of course."

Dean sat in his bed and taped his I.V to the side of his arm to make it look as though it were still inserted. As he was fixing his covers, he glanced over to Sam. The poor guy looked like he was about to hurl, but he had to hand it to the kid, he was taking all this in better than he expected him to.

Sam looked back and forth between the two hunters. "So, what's my part in all this?"

Dean snorted a little bit. "Actually, we have a very important role for you. It's called, 'the guy who lays in his bed and acts like a patient with a busted foot."

Sam moaned. "No, seriously."

"I am being serious. You have no part in this. Just try to act as natural as possible and let me and Bobby handle this. The only thing you'll accomplish by trying to help will be getting in our way, and that could kill all of us." Still seeing doubt in Sam's eyes, Dean issued a warning. "I ain't kidding. You try anything stupid and I'll shoot you myself."

Hidden in the far corner of the room, Bobby waved at Dean. "Someone's coming." He whispered.

Dean instantly dropped his head to his pillow and closed his eyes. His breathing became calm and even, as though nothing unusual at all was going on in the room. Before Sam had a chance to pretend he was asleep, the door opened and Charlotte the nurse walked in, pushing a cart with all the equipment used to check patients' vitals. Her eyes widened a little when she realized that Sam was awake.

"Well, hello there." She beamed at him. "I wasn't expecting anyone to be awake in here. How are you feeling?"

Sam took a deep breath and managed to smile back at her. "Yeah, I feel fine, thank you. I just woke up."

Charlotte went to Dean's bedside first, checking his blood pressure and pulse. "Looks like your roommate isn't having any trouble sleeping." Then, turning back to Sam, "Has he woken up at all tonight?"

Sam felt his breath hitch a little at the question. "N…no. At least…..I don't think so. I…..I just woke up myself."

"That's good. The poor dear really needed some rest. Hopefully the antibiotics we gave him have knocked back the effects of the bite and he'll be a new man by morning." She finished with Dean and wheeled her cart up to Sam's bedside. "Now, let's see how that ankle is doing. Is it causing you discomfort?"

Sam winced as he looked down at his foot. In the far corner of the room he couldn't help but notice Bobby's silhouette and he once again felt his face heat up. His heart was beating so hard in his chest that he was surprised Charlotte couldn't hear it from where she was standing. He forced himself not to look in Bobby's direction and instead focused on the question.

"It's throbbing quite a bit, but as long as I don't move it, it's not too bad."

Charlotte nodded her head. "Yes, unfortunately that's to be expected. The dose of Morphine you're on should be knocking the pain back enough so that it's bearable for you. Is that what's keeping you awake?"

Sam shook his head as he watched Charlotte sit on the side of his bed and strap the blood pressure reader to his arm. "No, I'm not sure what woke me up. It just happened." Charlotte gave the ball of the reader a few squeezes, and Sam felt the strap tightening around his bicep. 'Just calm down.' He admonished himself.

A few moments later, Charlotte frowned as she let the air out of the strap. She then took Sam's hand and placed two fingers on the inside of his wrist. Afterward she looked deep into Sam's eyes. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?" She asked.

Sam cleared his throat a bit as he again nodded. "Yeah, I feel fine. Why?"

She took a stethoscope and placed it to Sam's chest. "Because your vitals are as if you've just run a marathon." She answered as she listened to Sam's heartbeat. It only took a moment before she removed the stethoscope and hung it back around her shoulders. "Yeah, you're not doing okay. Your heart is racing sporadically." She took the thermometer machine off the cart and placed the tip of it under Sam's tongue. Ten seconds later the machine beeped and she removed it and discarded the protective sleeve. She brushed her hand along Sam's forehead and down the side of his cheek. "Well, you don't have a fever, but your skin is very clammy and sweaty." She frowned down at him again. "It's not a wonder you couldn't sleep with your blood pressure as high as it is." She stood and smoothed her skirt. "You may be having a reaction to your medication. I think I should get a doctor to come have a look at you, and give you a sedative to help calm you down."

Sam adamantly shook his head. "No, that's really not necessary. I do this all the time when I'm in hospitals. I'm not a good patient. I get really panicky when I have to spend the night in one of these places." He even managed a smile. "Honestly, it's not any reaction to medication, and I don't need any sleeping aid. It's just the way I am. I'm fine, really."

The corners of Charlotte's mouth turned down as she pondered a decision. "Well, I suppose it will be okay. None of your numbers are at a dangerous level, they're just much higher than what they should be while your body is at rest." She smiled down at him once again. "Just try to get some sleep, okay?" She turned as she headed toward the door with her cart. "This will all go much easier if you're both asleep."

Sam sat up upon hearing her words. "What did you mean by that?" He asked.

She looked at him inquisitively. "Your night will go by easier for you if you're sleeping, of course. What else would I mean?"

Sam almost felt a little foolish. He leaned back against his pillow once more. "Oh, right. Okay, I'll try to get back to sleep."

As soon as Charlotte left the room, Dean opened his eyes. "Dude, you need to chill. Everything's gonna be fine. Just try to relax."

An angry look crossed Sam's face as he turned to Dean. "And how am I supposed to chill? Huh?" He argued, keeping his voice barely above a whisper. "Excuse me, but I've had a crazy assed night so far. First, I wake up to you standing over me, threatening to break me in half. You pull a knife on me, there's a guy with a gun lurking in the corner over there, you've got a gun under your pillow and we're all sitting here waiting for some mutant spider monster to come in and try to kill us!" He frantically threw his arms up in the air. "But you're right…..I should just try to relax!"

Dean sighed. So much for the kid taking this better than expected. A small smile crossed his lips as he silently sympathized with him. "I'm sorry, really, I am. But you don't have any other choice here. I do mean it when I tell you not to be afraid, though. Bobby and I are true professionals, and we'll gank this monster with very little trouble. Believe it or not, it's kinda what we do."

Sam chuckled a little bit. "Like on the movie 'Men in Black'?"

Dean frowned at first, but then gave in to a grin. "No, not like that. 'Men in Black' is a movie, a dumb one at that. What we do is very real. We take care of things that most people can't." Dean shifted his position on his bed. "But I am ultra-cool like those guys, though, without the stupid monkey suits."

Sam shook his head. "Sounds like a blast." He said, emphasizing the sarcasm in his voice. "Is there some sort of class you can take or license you need to do this line of work?"

"Nope," Dean answered. "There's no way to teach it, you have to do it." He decided to change the subject away from monsters to try to calm Sam down a little. "Speaking of which, what do you do?"

Sam lifted his head up and propped himself on his elbows. The change in position seemed to bother his foot and he groaned a bit as he readjusted his hips. "I'm a student at Stanford Law. Just this year I've started work as an apprentice lawyer. I graduate in two years and hope to take the bar exam immediately after that."

Bobby took a few steps out of his hiding spot as he entered the conversation. "That's great, kid. Congratulations."

Never comfortable taking compliments, Sam shrugged as he gave an embarrassed grin. "Thanks. I've put in a lot of work, pretty much my whole life I've wanted to be a lawyer."

Dean nodded. "That's good, Sam. I kinda would've liked to have gone to school myself." He gave a quick glance at Bobby, "But I could never leave the job. It's more of a lifestyle than anything else."

Bobby changed the subject back to Sam. "Are you from California?"

"No," Sam answered, "Originally I'm from Kansas, but my parents died when I was very young and my grandfather, Samuel raised me. He was a Marine so we moved around a lot. I must've gone to thirty different schools growing up."

Dean raised his eyebrows. "Yeah?" he retorted. "Now there's something we have in common. My dad was a Marine too. We were always moving around. It was great. I could pretty much do whatever I wanted in school, and by the time the teachers and principal caught up with me, I was out of there."

Sam smiled at Dean's answer, but shook his head. "I hated it. I was always the new kid. I never made any friends, and I always felt like an outsider. I used to pitch a fit whenever we'd have to move again."

"Well," Dean teased, "It looked to me like you had a close friend last night. Who was that cute little blonde with you when I came in?"

The tension in Sam seemed to melt away as a huge smile crossed his face. "That's Jess. I met her my first year in Stanford. She's my angel. I seriously don't know where I'd be without her."

Dean and Bobby exchanged a quick glance and they both smiled. "That's nice." Dean answered. "It's good that you have someone like that."

The conversation froze as a rumbling sound could be heard beyond the hospital room door. The three men all quickly resumed their positions as the noise grew louder and closer. It was the sound of something large being wheeled down the corridor. In the space below the door, Sam could see the shadow of feet stopped just on the other side. His heartbeat quickened once again as he lay waiting to see what would happen next.

"Close your eyes." Dean whispered to Sam. "Don't let it know you're awake, and stay completely still."

It took every ounce of strength Sam had, but he managed to lie motionless. As his eyelids closed, he could see the doorknob turn slowly and the light from the hallway bleed into the room as the door opened.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Okay, finally, I've got it finished. I had a great time writing this and I hope it proves to be worth the wait. Please take a quick moment and let me know what you thought. It would mean a lot to me. **_

**Bad Medicine, Chapter 4**

Sam could hear the sound of footsteps moving around the room. It took every ounce of strength he had to lie still and not make any noise. After a moment, the footsteps stopped and everything went quiet. In spite of having been warned to keep his eyes closed, Sam couldn't help himself and he cracked one eyelid just a tiny bit to try to see what was happening.

A tall, painfully thin man stood at the end of Dean's bed, studying Dean as he lay. For a moment Sam thought that this may be another false alarm, as it looked to be just a maintenance or cleaning person, as the man had wheeled in a large laundry bin and was dressed in what appeared to be a cleaning uniform. However, something about the man wasn't right. He was studying Dean too closely and seemed too interested in him just to be a maintenance employee.

The tall dark figure then began to move about Dean's bedside in awkward, lanky movements. The placement of each of his feet seemed very deliberate, almost exaggerated, as if he were a newborn colt taking its first steps. He stopped between Dean and Sam's bed and carefully leaned over Dean's body, observing every detail. Sam knew that Dean was awake, and he wondered how the Hell Dean could lay there so still while someone, or something, was so close to him.

The man took one more look around the room and then tipped his head back, looking straight up at the ceiling. Suddenly, there was a crackling, crunching sound that seemed to be coming from the man's body. His head was moving violently back and forth as the nauseating sound of what could only be bones popping out of their sockets filled Sam's ears. The man then opened his mouth unnaturally wide, his jaw seemingly becoming unhinged and let out an animalistic growl.

From out of the man's mouth appeared a large set of jawbones, emerging slowly as the cracking noise continued. The horrific mandibles opened and closed in a sideways motion, opposite the direction a human jaw moves and clamped together like a pair of pincers. Once the maxillae were set in place, it tipped its head back in its normal position and looked back at Dean, its eyes now perfect black little circles jutting from its head.

Sam gasped in horror and disbelief as terror began to overtake him. He tried to holler out a warning to Dean, but quickly realized that he had no control over speech. The only thing Sam could do was make a few 'Gah!' and 'Ung' noises as he sat up and tried to get his body to move off the bed.

The creature quickly turned toward Sam as it heard him cry out and it distracted the monster just enough for Dean to make his move. He drew his gun and fired it, hitting the arachnid just below its ribs. Undaunted by the bullet, the giant insect grabbed Dean's arm and violently shook it with supernatural strength, forcing Dean to drop his weapon, sending it crashing to the floor. Dean countered the loss of his gun by drawing out the syringe that held the venom, taking direct aim at its chest. Before Dean could inject the needle, however, the creature clutched him by the shirt, pulled him out of his bed and threw him. Dean sailed through the air, completely flying over Sam's bed and landed with a heavy crash against the wall of the room.

Bobby had charged the being as well, delivering his own rain of bullets, each striking the arachnid in its back. Realizing quickly that the bullets had zero effect on it, Bobby drew his own needle and attacked, forcing the thin spike deep into the back of monster's head and pushed the venom into its brain.

A vicious screech sounded throughout the room as the spider-like monster reared its head back, flexing its hideous mandibles and writhing around the room. In one last desperate attempt to escape, the arachnid crouched down, placed its hands on the floor and sprung itself high into the air. It landed effortlessly in a corner of the ceiling and somehow adhered to the wall in a true spider motion.

All three men in the room were frozen and awestruck and stared as the creature remained hovered in the corner, obviously struggling to stay alive as it gasped for breath and consciousness. Little by little, the spider began losing its strength as each appendage lost its suction to the wall and hanged lifelessly. With its dying breath, the creature looked one last time at the trio watching it, shrieked at them, and then dropped dead to the floor.

Bobby and Dean hurried to the creature's side as Dean checked for a pulse. Dean looked up at Bobby and nodded his head.

"It's dead." He announced.

Sam let out a deep, labored breath and collapsed his body flat down on his mattress. "Holy Christ, what the Hell was that thing? I've never seen anything like that before in my life!" He sat back up and searched both Bobby and Dean's eyes for some sort of answer. "How was that even real? How did that even happen? Did you see….?"

Dean nodded at Sam as he raised his hands up. "Yes, I saw, and I know it's a Hell of a thing to witness, especially for the first time. You've got every right to be freaked out right now, but please do us both a favor and try to pull it together a little bit longer. Bobby and I still have to take care of this thing and get rid of it before anyone else comes in here, so if you could just chill for a bit then that would be great."

Sam, still obviously traumatized, shook his head and tried to wipe some of the sweat from his face with the back of his hand. He watched as the two other men diligently worked to lift the half spider, half human from the floor and carry him to the large laundry bin. He couldn't understand how they could both possibly be so calm about everything.

"So, it's over then?" Sam asked.

Dean didn't have a chance to answer. At that very moment a shriek came from the doorway of the room, forcing them all to stop and turn toward the sound.

Charlotte the nurse stood at the door and stared in horror as Bobby and Dean stood with the dead body in their arms. A look of panic crossed Dean's face as he scrambled to let go of the body and stop the nurse before she would inevitably turn and run from the room screaming.

Much to Dean's surprise, she stood stunned for a moment, taking in the full view of what was going on in front of her. Then, without any warning, a malicious expression crossed her face as she began to scream.

"What's happening here?" She cried, running toward them, "Hector! My beautiful mate. What have you done to him?" With those words, she drew back her arms and swung them savagely at Dean and Bobby, sending both of them soaring backward and landing hard on their backs. She bent over her mate's body and held the dead creature's face in her hands. She then looked toward all three men in front of her as she violently shook. "You're all going to pay for this! Each one of you will die!"

Bobby crawled toward Dean as he quickly realized that this nurse was the inside person at the hospital they had been seeking. "Dean," He hollered, "Where is the other syringe?"

As Dean desperately tried to get to his feet, Sam watched in horror for a second time as yet another human being transformed into a hideous monster right in front of him. Charlotte's head tipped back as the familiarly gruesome sound of cracking bones and gnashing jaws permeated the room.

"I dropped it when I got thrown earlier." Dean cried as he searched in vain for the needle. "I don't know where it landed."

Charlotte didn't take long at all to convert into her true form and within a few seconds she was jumping across the room, landing on the backs of Dean and Bobby, slashing at them and sending them flying.

Sam forced himself to regain his senses long enough to look around for the syringe, realizing that it was their only hope of survival. Miraculously, it occurred to him that Dean was just about to use the syringe on the first creature just before it threw him over Sam's bed and against the wall. Sam quickly dragged himself to the edge of his bed and looked down to the floor. A searing pain jolted Sam's ankle and sent a wave of scorching heat all the way up his leg to his knee, making Sam shout out in agony.

Just beyond his reach lay the weapon they had been searching for. Sam took a quick look over his shoulder just as Charlotte heard him crying out. She twisted her head towards him, her eyes narrowing into tiny slits as she saw Sam reaching over the edge of his bed.

Simultaneously, Sam dived head first over the side of his bed for the syringe and Charlotte dropped Bobby down to the floor and made a massive leap on all four limbs toward Sam.

Dean and Bobby could only watch in horror as Sam's body crashed off the bed with a loud thud just before Charlotte's hideous figure landed squarely on top of him. Both bodies were then out of the hunters' view as they continued to hear brutal wrestling on the floor beside the bed. After a brief moment, the struggling suddenly stopped and everything went still and quiet.

Dean scrambled to his feet and ran to Sam's bed, pushing it forcefully out of the way so he could reach Sam. Bobby was by his side just a moment later. They stood holding their breath as they saw Sam lying on his back with Charlotte on top of him, her face buried in the crook of his neck. Neither Sam nor Charlotte showed any signs of life.

Dean was the first to reach them. He gave a questioning look to Bobby as he nudged the creature with his stocking foot, not quite ready to put his face too close to its menacing jaws. "Is it dead?" He asked.

Charlotte's body rocked involuntarily at the nudge, but still remained lifeless. However, the slight kick was enough to resuscitate Sam, who upon awakening jerked backwards violently, trying to free himself from the monster on top of him. "Help!" He screamed as he thrashed on the floor. "Get it off me!"

Dean and Bobby nearly jumped out of their skins as Sam reacted, but quickly came to his aid as they lifted the creature's carcass off Sam, who quickly pulled himself out from under it, dragging his heavy casted foot along the floor behind him. When they flipped Charlotte's body over, they found the needle of the syringe buried deep into its chest with all the venom plunged into her heart with the weight of her body on top of it.

Bobby turned to Sam. "Looks like you got to the syringe in the nick of time." He observed. "You're one lucky son of a bitch."

Dean left Charlotte's side and kneeled down next to Sam, checking his neck and shoulders for wounds. "Did it bite you?" he asked.

Sam brought his hands up to his neck and felt with his fingertips. Finding nothing, he shook his head at Dean. "No, I don't think so."

Dean smiled at Sam, "Then I agree with Bobby, you're one lucky son of a bitch."

Sam winced at both hunters as he leaned his back against the wall, panting and sweating from both the event that just took place and the pain pulsing through his body.

Dean patted Sam on the shoulder. "C'mon, kid. Let's get you back into bed."

Bobby went straight to work loading the two monster carcasses into the laundry bin. He then covered them with some sheets and tucked them into a corner of the room. Dean helped Sam get back between his sheets with his casted foot once again propped comfortably atop some pillows and reattached the morphine drip tube into his I.V , which had popped off in the scuffle.

"There," Dean assured, "You'll be good as new by morning."

Dean sat down for a moment and wiped his face as well. "Whew," He declared. "I think the adrenaline is wearing off for me, too. I'm starting to feel the effects of the flu virus again." He turned to Bobby with mock anger. "We ever have to do this type of undercover work again, it'll be you who gets the virus, not me. This thing is kicking my ass."

Bobby scoffed slightly at Dean as he poked some fun back at him. "Suck it up, Nancy. You're gonna live."

Sam smiled at them. He marveled at how completely in their element they appeared to be. Sam still had his heart racing in his chest and was still physically shaking, but they both appeared to be perfectly calm, even joking. He took a deep breath to try to collect himself.

"I still can't believe what happened in here. It's all so unreal." Sam looked toward the laundry bin anxiously, half expecting one of the creatures to pop out of it and attack again. "I mean, the nurse….she seemed so nice, and normal."

"Yeah," Dean agreed, "She did. I honestly never suspected her, even though looking back she was an obvious choice." Dean followed Sam's gaze to the laundry bin. "Freaky chick, that one was."

"You know," Sam continued, "It's ironic how her name was Charlotte, as in 'Charlotte's Web'." Not getting any response from Dean or Bobby, Sam tried to explain. "You know, the children's book about the spider."

"I thought Charlotte was a pig. Wasn't that a story about a pig?" Dean asked.

Sam shook his head. "No, the pig was Wilbur. Charlotte was the spider."

"Oh," Dean answered. "Did the spider die in the book?"

Sam couldn't help but chuckle a little as he nodded his head. "Yeah, it did."

Dean stood up from his bed and walked toward Sam. "Then, yeah, I would call that ironic," then, smiling at Sam, "And I would also call you a nerd for knowing about geeky crap like that."

Bobby snickered at both of them as he joined them at Sam's bedside. "Okay kids, time to get things back to as normal as possible. It's almost four a.m., which means I've gotta get the Hell out of here with this laundry bin before anyone sees me."

Dean smiled as he thumped the hunter on the back. "Sounds like a plan." He then pointed his head in Sam's direction as he continued to speak with Bobby. "We just got that one last thing to take care of. You got the stuff?"

Bobby reached into his bag and pulled out another syringe. "Yeah, I got it." He turned to Sam. "Kid, it's been great to meet you. You did an awesome job tonight, really. You really came through with keeping your cool as well as you did." He stepped to the I.V stand at the head of Sam's bed and brought the syringe to a port in the line. "But Dean and I decided that if he did end up with a roommate tonight during all of this, it would be better if he didn't clearly recall all the things that took place tonight, so this is to help you." With that declaration, he inserted the syringe into the I.V line and pushed down the plunger.

Sam jumped and sat up straight, reaching for Bobby's arm. "What? Wait! What are you doing? What is that stuff?"

Dean gently pushed him back down and shushed him. "Don't worry, it's alright. It's not going to hurt you whatsoever. It's just some happy juice, that's all."

Sam started to protest some more, but Dean continued to talk over him as he held him down against the mattress. "It's gonna be fine. You'll just wake up tomorrow a little confused, that's all. Trust me, it's better if you don't know what's out there. When you know the stuff Bobby and I know, it can mess you up sometimes."

Sam could feel the contents of the syringe beginning to take effect, and he blinked hard a few times to try to keep his head clear. "So, I won't remember this?"

Bobby dropped the empty syringe back into his bag. "You'll remember bits and pieces of it, but it'll be all jumbled and make even less sense than it did to begin with." He smiled down at Sam as he placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "You'll most likely think it was all just a crazy dream."

Dean got close to Sam. "Anyway, like Bobby said, Sam, you really did great tonight. We couldn't have pulled this whole thing off without you. You're a hero." Dean patted Sam's arm. He could see Sam was now visibly struggling to keep his eyes opened. "You take care of yourself and your girl. You hear me?"

Sam nodded as his eyes finally closed. "Yeah. You guys take care too. It was great meeting you t…" Sam's sentence remained unfinished as he drifted off to sleep.

Not surprisingly, Sam slept until almost eleven o'clock the following morning. He opened his eyes to the sight of his beautiful girl sitting next to him. He couldn't help but smile up at her.

Jess seemed relieved to see Sam awaken. She took his hand in hers as she greeted him.

"Good morning, sleepyhead. You had me a little worried there for a while."

Sam yawned and stretched as he regained his sense of where he was. He frowned in concern at her reaction. "Why? What were you worried about?"

"You were so sound asleep I couldn't even wake you earlier. You're not normally such a sound sleeper. It worried me." She cocked her head at him. "How are you feeling?"

A dull headache throbbed continuously just above Sam's eyes. Something in the back of his mind was nagging him, but he couldn't figure out what it was. "Okay, I guess. My head aches a little, but my ankle's not too bad."

From out of Sam's line of vision, a voice chimed in. "It looks like he may have had a slightly bad reaction to the Morphine he was given last night." Sam jumped at hearing the voice and seemed alarmed to see a nurse standing on the other side of his bed. She continued to explain. "His t-shirt was soaking wet earlier this morning when I checked on him. I changed him into a clean, dry one and he never even stirred. I took the I.V out so it should be out of his system by now." She placed a hand on his forehead and smiled down at him. "He seems cool and dry now, though."

Sam gasped as the sight of the nurse brought all the memories of the previous night flooding back to him. He sat straight up, looking furiously all around the room, his eyes darting back and forth. He looked into Jess' eyes.

"Something horrible happened last night!" He said, clutching Jess' hand. "There was something in the room, something evil, and it tried to kill me!"

Jess' eyes widened in fear and astonishment as she heard Sam's words. "What are you talking about? What happened?"

Sam continued speaking as he squinted his eyes to focus on what he was saying. "I'm not sure exactly what it was, but it was some kind of monster."

Sam moved forward more, looking behind the nurse who had been blocking his line of vision to the bed beside him. He sighed in relief at what he saw.

Dean was sitting on the edge of his bed. He was now fully dressed and was bent over tying his work boots. He casually looked up at Sam, as if intently listening to an interesting story.

"Him!" Sam shouted as he pointed to Dean. "He can tell you. He was here the whole time. It almost killed him too."

Jess' brow frowned as she looked from Sam to the nurse. "What's wrong with him?" She asked. The nurse looked just as confused by Sam's behavior as Jess was and shook her head.

Sam could tell he was losing Jess' faith in his recollection. "No, Jess, just listen." His eyes widened as he recalled another event. "You were here for some of it, remember? You were visiting me and you were roller skating, and you had Bones with you, but he wasn't a dog he was a kangar…." Sam suddenly realized how crazy everything sounded and he started to get confused. He frowned and shook his head. "No, wait. That part was a dream, but the monster part was real. It was stuck to the ceiling…"

Dean lowered his head and chuckled. Sam heard him laughing and stared blankly at him.

"Sounds like a pretty intense dream you had there, buddy." Dean smiled. He honestly felt bad for the poor bastard and the lost puppy dog expression on the kid's face damn near broke his heart, but he knew deep down that this was for the best. "You were thrashing around in your sleep quite a bit last night. It's a wonder you got any rest at all."

Jess smiled pitifully down at Sam and ran her fingers through his hair, brushing the bangs from his face. "So, Bones was a kangaroo and I was roller skating around the hospital while a monster was attacking you?" A wide grin spread across her face in spite of her attempt to remain serious. "Wow! No more Morphine for you."

Sam desperately looked from Dean to Jess and then lowered his head and chewed on his bottom lip. His face remained creased, still trying to process what was going through his mind. He then thought of an important piece of information. He looked to the nurse standing next to him. A snide smile crossed his lips.

"Is Charlotte working today?" He asked, knowing all too well that she wasn't.

The nurse smiled as she shook her head. "No, sweetie. Charlotte's last day was yesterday. She and her husband were taking a year's sabbatical and were going to travel the Amazon. We threw her a going away party yesterday."

Sam fell back against his pillow in defeat. From the other side of the room Sam could hear Dean laugh as he gathered his coat and bag together in his arms. Sam watched as Dean opened the door to leave. Dean turned one last time to Sam.

"Take care, now. Don't go fighting any more monsters without me!"

Sam was just about to look away in disgust, when something about Dean's expression made him continue to watch. Just before Dean left the room, he looked Sam straight in the eyes and winked at him, mouthing the words, "Thank you."

Sam sat stunned. Just as he was beginning to wonder if he was truly losing his mind, that little act from Dean validated that he wasn't going crazy after all. He sat quietly for a moment, contemplating whether or not he should continue to try to convince Jess that his story was true, but ultimately decided against it. He would just end up sounding like a lunatic.

Jess leaned in close to Sam, giving him a soft kiss.

"Are you sure you're okay, baby?" She asked.

Sam smiled up at her. "Yeah, I'm fine." He sat up and cautiously swung his legs over the side of the bed, favoring his bad ankle. "It was just a crazy dream." He leaned forward and kissed her back. "Just get me the heck out of here and let's go home."

_**End**_


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